


Before the Sun Sets

by LilithsLullaby



Category: Sunshine (2007)
Genre: Angst, Depression, F/M, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-23 00:05:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18538228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilithsLullaby/pseuds/LilithsLullaby
Summary: In your last few moments on the Icarius 2, you reconnect with Mace. If only as a means to say goodbye.





	Before the Sun Sets

**Author's Note:**

> I just rewatched Sunshine and with the severe lack of Reader/Mace smut on AO3, I knew I had to fill the void. It’s just a short one but I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> I also can’t believe I forgot Chris Evans was in this and cried like a baby at the end.

You sit against the bed, your head heavy in your hands. You knew it was in the realm of possibility: Not returning home. Never returning. But hearing it so plainly, a matter of fact, broke your very last semblance of stability. Your hands begin to tremble. You are nonessential crew. Medical. Not necessary for the delivery of the payload. And if straws had to be drawn, you would be the first to go. Tears coat your hands, but you hardly make a sound. It isn’t worth the energy. 

You faintly recognize the sound of the door opening, then, swiftly closing again. It could just be a glitch, you tell yourself. But when you feel the pressure of a hand on your shoulder, you know you are mistaken. 

“Hey,” he says softly, barely audible. When you do not reply, he moves his hand to the back of your neck, gently massaging the taut muscles there. “Can you at least look at me?” 

You pry your face away from your hands. Mace stares down at you with an expression torn between pain and longing. You fumble to chase the remaining tears away before he catches hold of your hand and sits down beside you. 

“I know you’re scared,” he says as he threads his fingers through yours. You put up little resistance, letting him take control. 

“Terrified, actually,” you reply. You choke on the words. 

“We knew this might happen.” He is trying to reassure you, to put you at ease about the inevitability of this life. But it does little to calm the panic boiling inside of you. 

You turn to look at him through a veil of tears. “That doesn’t make this any easier.”

He closes his eyes and tightens his grip on your hand. “I know.”

When he opens his eyes, he looks up at the picture of the crew you have plastered against the wall. The lot of you smiling ignorantly, as you float, suspended in space. You aren’t sure how you could smile then, knowing the truth now. 

“I saw Cassie go in to talk to Capa,” he says in a low whisper. “I think she’s feeling the same about all of this as you are.”

“It’s not like all of us can take the prospect of death as bravely as you can.”

He lets go of a small grunt before hunching forward. “You don’t know anything about me.” 

“Then why are you here?” You ask as you stare down at where your hands are interlocked. 

He blinks at you, a bit frazzled. “I trained my whole life for something like this. I studied to be an Engineer, I...”

“I don’t mean the Icarius 2,” you interrupt. “I mean here. With me. Why are you here?”

He too stares down at your hands. He brings them into his lap, cradling your hold as if it were something so fragile it might break apart at any moment. 

“Do you remember when we first trained together down in the Cape?” He begins. “I was a bit of an ass to you.”

“A bit?” You stutter. He smirks in reply. 

“Okay, I was a huge asshole.” He dashes a smile your way and you are weak enough to return it. “I pushed you. I tested you. I’m sorry I wasn’t... gentler.”

You laugh and brush away another tear. “It doesn’t matter now,” you tell him. The words pierce through your own heart. The truth of them deafening. “Nothing really does.” 

You pry your hand free and shift back onto the bed, curling onto your side. “All that matters is the payload. Our lives are meaningless.”

“Don’t say that.” The bed shifts under his weight as he comes to lie beside you. There isn’t much room for you both, but he makes due. Only a small, delicate space is left between you. Your gaze holds to his as if held by an invisible force, a tether drawing you together. He reaches out to push a strand of hair away from your face. His touch lingers against your skin. “Of course they aren’t meaningless. These last few moments...They matter. Its not important how little time we have left. Only that was have time. These last moments are ours to claim as we choose.” His fingers trace a line down your cheek, lingering at the corner of your lips. 

“And what will you do with your last moments of life?” You whisper as his finger comes forward to swoop across your mouth. You part your lips for him eagerly. 

“Make love to a beautiful girl,” he whispers. 

“Where are you going to find one of those in the middle of space?” You ask with a small smile. He laughs lightly before he bridges the gap between you and kisses you with the full intensity of his mouth. 

 

During the months of training leading up to your mission, you and Mace had gladly used each other as a means of stress relief. No emotions attached, just sex. But you had begun to feel something more complicated than simple desire. Love.You wanted more from your relationship, something he couldn’t, or rather, wouldn’t offer you. He ended things cruelly, claiming there truly was nothing between you. But now, if this isn’t love, there is at least one raw emotion held mutually between you both: fear. 

He thrusts his hand up underneath your shirt, finding your breast and cupping it in his grasp. He moans into your mouth as he thrusts forward into you. He grinds his hips against you, warranting a heated moan from deep within your throat. He groans in frustration. There are too many obstacles between you: clothes and second guessing. But consequences don’t matter when death hangs in the doorway. You reach down and help him out of his pants as he pulls your shirt up over your head. He kicks them uselessly to the side, off the small bed. 

“Do you have...” Condoms. It wasn’t exactly part of protocol to have them onboard. Sexual relations were strongly discouraged. Too much unnecessary exertion. But if anyone had snuck them onto the ship, it would have been Mace. Nevertheless, he shakes his head, knowing what you are after. 

“We don’t need one,” he moans as his hand slides down between your bodies, to feel the wetness gathering beneath your thin cotton panties. “I want to feel all of you.”

His finger pushes inside and you grind into his hand happily. 

“Mace, please...”

“Please what, baby?” He thrusts faster, rubbing your clit with his thumb.

“Make me forget,” you beg as you cling to his shirt, still worn. “Make me forgeteverything.”

He stalls for a moment, long enough for you to silence what could be his own brand of morale with another desperate kiss. “Please...I need you.”

He returns the kiss with vigor, sliding his tongue past your own. You moan into his mouth and thrust eagerly into his hand. 

“Fuck, you are so ready for me,” he growls in encouragement as he pushes your sweatpants and panties out of the way. You wrap your hand around his erect cock and guide him toward you. He slides in with little resistance, sighing as you wrap yourself around him. You pull yourself close to his chest and he holds you there as your bodies rock in tandem. 

“I forgot what it felt like to be with you,” he whispers into your neck. He kisses just below your ear. “I should have never let you go.”

“Then don’t let me go now,” you whimper. “Make these last few moments count.”

“I intend to.” He thrusts hard into you and you shout your pleasure so loudly you are sure all of Icarius 2 will hear. But you are both past caring. He reaches around your back and grasps onto your ass, kneading. “I want to feel you cum around me. I want... want to cum deep inside of you. Fill you up.”

His words become lost as his own pleasure builds. You remember the tall-tell signs of his surrender. The way his hands would grip your hips. The way his mouth would twitch slightly. The way his moans would quicken and stop, abruptly. 

“Do it,” you command. “Give me one last happy memory.” 

He lets out a cry before he thrusts and fills you with his completion. The warmth of it, you are sure, could rival the bitter sun at your backs. The tyrant signing your death warrants. 

You too find release with a deep moan as you hold tight to his shoulders, shuttering against him. He clings to you, refusing to let go, not until the small bed  beneath you becomes unbearable giving the sweltering heat of your bodies combined. He is the first to shift away, pulling free from your sex. The evidence of your love making mares your inner thigh. But you leave it there as you pull your knees into your chest, readying yourself for his departure. He had never been once for sleeping over. Never one for lingering til morning. All he needed was sex, and when you were done, so was his need for you. 

After shuffling back into his pants, he sits back down on the edge of bed for only a moment. His hands held against his knees. 

“You should know... before this all ends...” He stops himself short. He runs his hand down the length of his face and you can see by the sheen left on his palm, that he too is crying. “You should know that I loved you.” 

He stands up to leave, not looking back as he closes the door behind him, leaving you in the darkness as you await a certain end. 


End file.
